The Dillon tribune., 1887-07-08
Unconscious CoMicality Of Crazy .bOkerA.
Nothing To" .Ai,surtl I" 1se believed by
. I.nnatic-lngcnuity NJ Slonon'anisc".
xtrMvnyant Fancy.

everything he saw into something differ
ent. "Where are you:" the professor
asked the patient. sin menagerie, -
was the answer. ".And what are these
bein9s:" the professor asked, pointing to
the students. The answer was consistent:
"I.iOrs and tigers aud hears" When the
students laughed aloud at this unexpected
geological diagnosis, the patient insisted
that the animals were now 'rOaring.'
Frequently patients consider themselves
partially or entirely transformed into ami
mails or superior beings. One woman
mcntioped by Kraft Ebing insisted that
her feeA had been changed into hOUfs and
her head into an Ox's head 4 young man
became convinced in the course Of his dis
ease that lie was the devil, 50 be refused
to take food in order to starve the fiend.
An Austrian patient insisted that he had
lost hts eyes, and wanted to r., to London
10 get new pair. Being retained against
his will he refused tO eat anything ON the
ground that Bismarck had poisoned his
food and tllat u million gods had warned
him against It.
NOTHING Is TOO ABSURD.
1t often happens, us in dreams, that in.
animate objects appear to the patient to
be alive. 4 tower opposite an ayctl luna
tics window was taken by him for tho
"wOrll soul" Que day he saw the tower
move away, and voice came from it
which cursed hin, for having destroyed
the world! Nothing il too absurd to be-
believed by tho 'dcmcnteu. One patient
having maltreatc<l another, was taken to
task and questioned az to his motive. He
finally confessed that the other man
wanted to come into my ward to hpi.d u
chimney six miles high, and l pushed MN
down stairs ''In one case that was un-
der my charge, says DR.. Hammond, ''the
patient, a stntioncr, doing business in this
city, had the delusion that unknown enc
mteS-F'reemasOEs-we acting Oh him
by electricity, which they sent into his
brain, through the top Of his head. by
powerful batteries which they had in their
lodge rooms In another a woman d
conceived that all the iron ratings and
railway tracks hah been charged with
electricity In order to injurc her."
Great ingenuity Is often shown by mono
maniacs in trying to Justify their ludicrous
beliefs. Dr. Hammond knew u man who
believed that his right hand was made Of
glass, and who therefore carried it l.. q
stout case, to prevent its being broken.
When the doctor tried to convince him
that his hand was flesh and blood, and not
glass, he rctortetl: II once thought lust rs
you do. My brain was then incapable of
appreciating minute differences rs well us
it can now; and, though confess that my
senses still convey to me the idea that my
hand IL like other peoples, yet know
that the conception il erroneous, and cor
rect it 1T once by my reason My hand
looks like flesh and blood, but it's glass
for all that. Nothing is more calculated
TO deceive than the scllscs'
EXCDEl.ANcE OF FANCY.
Among Professor Kraft -Ebing's p,-
ticnts was one who felt badly used because
they would not give him a needle and
thread To sew IN his head. which he main.
tanned had been severed from his body
with fine cord by Il negro. The same
lnan considered himself Il great magician,
and told Of hi' adventures in quest Of tho
north pole. Which he found by going; down
into Ncsuvius. \ woman in the sane
hospital, previous to her admission. had
purchased u half finished umbrella. say
ing that she was going to Line it with the
nc" rr!is,lo'l: which reminds onu Of tho
late Emil ScarIa, of Vienna, the famous
hasso, who, y short time before his ,.a!a,,v
was discovered, went to tailor and
ordered Il iur uNprcuuL for summer Use.
adding that ii mus; l'c lined with electric
light,
Vita sil,,, moor, ;:Ad stars. luun,;cs arc
On very familiar terms One ral.pi., heard
Il noise Nhirh she N,:l!ntH!Nea WcS caused
by the r"!t::'.r about OF the rea! terrestrial
globe Gn,cr her bed. Another declared
that she fell from the moon twenty four
years ago. There sh" loved the red king
OF France who was shot on the moon,
Tho d;rrcin: Of the asylum lived opposite
her on the moon. But the mos, cX,raurii-
nary rNlIbcrance Of fancy was shown by
u denlcnted officer who considered himself
the ruler of the world. Er :,)sn
claimed I" he tho greatest nprr;, singer
III the world. and said he hal Travelled
around the earth with ludc., in
carriage drawn by 800 horse; v nose sta.
h,eS were made of diamonds. II. WAS
Wiling In s>!'are the earth with ,:uu,htr
patient after dividing it upnt the equator.
Then he intended TO divide up heaven sim
llarly, and take u drive in the lava Of VI,
suVil> i'l!si:I!ch as lc was tircpruuf lie
To erect 4 statue II thru>Huu luiil-
ion yards i'll heic!,t. made OF pure ,;in
mordS. He amused himself hy Shooting
'loWn stars from the Hrluumrnt, and th,;,
he was going ~ MAX" new planets hv con-
denslnst gases aud inci,Sin.: them in n
crust. Ike WAS always arra!t,cl4, iur ,clc-
graphic '>tHi "t'!rr communication with
the H""H ai.sl ,!!r stars. untl WAS ,Ncev,l,
lnGly ANNjoN; - see 1Ac pretty :-y!> Niu
Wniild 'r;H' I"W:i t. ~ tr,... \r:.r!> ann
juno.
Tina; electors. Ike >!!ov.na!>,.~. ~lul.,l
'llCN 10 t'':r last W., t,l, .t;ii,liu. r,sit-